JURY BEGINS DELIBERATING IN UCONN RAPE CASE

DANA TOFIG; Courant Staff WriterTHE HARTFORD COURANT

The jury in the sexual assault trial of Gregory Gildea has begun the task of deciding whether Gildea raped a woman at a University of Connecticut party in April 1997 or simply -- as his lawyer put it -- "acted like a pig."

Gildea, 19, is facing charges of unlawful restraint and two counts of sexual assault. The high school senior he is accused of raping had gone to a party at UConn on April 25, 1997,during Spring Weekend.

The Rockville Superior Court jury began deliberations Thursday afternoon after hearing final arguments from the attorneys in the case and being instructed on the law by Judge Lawrence C. Klaczak. Deliberations will continue today.

During final arguments, Assistant State's Attorney Elizabeth Leaming portrayed Gildea -- who was also a high school student at the time of the alleged assault -- as someone who wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

"He did not care what she was saying," Leaming said. " 'No' meant 'yes' in the world of Greg Gildea."

But Gildea's attorney, Patrick Cosgrove, said the young woman in the case didn't like it when Gildea got up and left her alone in the woods when they were finished having consensual sex.

"This is humiliating. This is embarrassing. This is devastating," Cosgrove said. "With a little work she can turn it around so whatever happened wasn't her responsibility."

Cosgrove said Gildea should be ashamed of himself, but that his client was still innocent.

"He acted like a pig," Cosgrove said. "It's disgraceful and shameful, but it's not criminal."

The young woman, a senior in Rocky Hill at the time, was visiting friends at UConn that weekend and attended Spring Weekend parties. Gildea and the woman -- who was named in court -- met at a keg party behind the Carriage House Apartments and quickly began kissing and hugging. They went about 30 yards into the woods behind one of the apartment buildings and continued to kiss.

In testimony last week, the womansaid she was forced to the ground by Gildea, who tried to pull down her pants and digitally penetrated her, even though she implored him to stop. She testified that Gildea got up for a few seconds and walked away, but returned. He used his weight to restrain her, she said, pulled down her pants and raped her. She said she covered her eyes and cried while he forced himself upon her, but did not scream out.

"Did the kisses give the defendant a license to take her body to do with as he wanted?" Leaming asked the jury. "She drew that line. And he crossed that line and for that, he is responsible."

Gildea testified Wednesday that he did have sex with the woman, but said that it was consensual. He said that when he walked away initially, she called him back. When they were done, he stood up, zipped his pants and walked away, leaving her on the ground.

There were no visible signs of trauma, the doctor who examined the woman said in court. But the doctor added that is not unusual in rape cases. Cosgrove said it seems highly unlikely there would be no marks since the alleged assault took place on the ground in the woods.

"Where are the bruises? Where are the markings? Where are the lacerations?" he said. "If it happened the way [the woman] said, there